I have been driving the vw for a month now. It rides like a brick with a ton of road noise. One of the previous owners had put lowering springs and oversized low profile tires on it as well as Koni struts.
I don't have any intention of taking out the expensive Koni's I did notice that the back ones have adjustable spring height. Perhaps the front do as well.
For a start I got some Firestone M+S tires called winterforce. They are made in Argentina and cost about 300 dollars for the set. I got them in 155/80x13 instead of the 205/60x13 tires that were on there. Stock is 175x70 I wanted as narrow as possible for winter traction. The 155's are taller than the 205s that were on there.
The car rides much better and is 3x quieter. Prior to having them installed I couldn't hear the AM radio well at all. Still takes corners very well.
Here is a picture of the tread.
Time will tell but as much better as the car rides and is quieter I think they should be good for fuel mileage as well. Not as good as summer road tire perhaps but that is not an option for me.